Page 9 of Love Legacy

Naomi

There’s a soft knock at my door, then a second, more forceful one right after. I roll over in bed toward the door, fully awakened. “Come in!”

Maeve pokes her head in, holding up a pale pink-colored envelope. “I believe this is for you.” She holds it out to me, stepping into the room.

I throw the blankets off, sitting up in bed and taking the letter from her. “What’s this?” I ask, turning the envelope over in my hands. It’s the same shade of pink as the Kappa Theta Alpha colors, and my name is printed on the front in gold calligraphy.Fancy.

“Just open it,” Maeve says, bouncing on her toes excitedly. I raise an eyebrow, watching her drink her coffee with already too much energy for the day. I open the envelope, taking the card out. It’s equally as ornate as the envelope. The card is cream-colored with the Kappa Theta Alpha crest on the front and the sorority name in the same gold calligraphy underneath.

I open the card, skimming it quickly before reading it out loud for Maeve’s satisfaction.

“Naomi,we’ve had an amazing time this week getting to know you and the rest of the interests. You embody the values that we hold close: Sisterhood, Leadership, Inclusivity and Charity. If you are interested, the members of Kappa Theta Alpha would love to extend an invitation for you to join our sisterhood.”

Maeve tries to hide her mega-watt grin behind her hand. “So… Are you going to join us?”

I smile, grabbing one of my pillows and chucking it at her legs, avoiding her coffee mug. “You’re so annoying. Yes, I would love to join your sorority.”

“Yay! Okay, you have approximately…forty-two minutes to get yourself ready. Wear some kind of light-colored bottoms, like a lighter wash denim or white pants. Top doesn’t matter though, we’ll give you a T-shirt when you get to the house. Alex will drop you off. I have to be there in fifteen,” she says, checking her watch.

I wasn’t even paying attention to the fact that Maeve was already fully dressed. She had on a pair of distressed, light-washed, straight-leg jeans, a cropped, light yellow T-shirt with the Kappa letters across the chest in gold, and a pair of her white running sneakers. “You look cute. I’ll see you in a little while.”

Maeve smiles, leaving my room in a hurry. I get up, heading toward my closet and pulling out a pair of white, high-waisted skinny jeans and a plain grey T-shirt. I get dressed, putting on a pair of tan gladiator sandals along with my outfit. I take mybonnet off, letting my hair down. There were no rush events yesterday, so I managed to squeeze in an appointment at a braiding salon in Manhattan I found on social media.

It was pricey, but they did a fantastic job. I got Senegalese twists done, and they curled the ends and added gold clips and other charms to the braids. It was much different than the basic box braids I’m used to getting in Georgia, but I’m extremely pleased with how they came out.

I pull the front sections of twists back, using a gold claw clip to hold them in place. I keep my makeup simple, putting on some mascara, a peachy lip and cheek tint, and then a pinky-nude gloss. I put on my gold cross necklace and a few simple gold bracelets before grabbing my purse and heading into the living room.

Alex was waiting for me in the living room, dressed similarly to Maeve. She was wearing the same yellow Kappa T-shirt, tied up and knotted at the waist, with a pair of loose, white, split-leg pants and flip-flops. “Ready?”

I nod. “Is this okay to wear today? I know Maeve mentioned some kind of dress code.”

“It’s perfect. And I love your hair! I don’t think I saw you last night when you go back from the city.”

“I think I came back after you left for Matt’s house.” Matthew is Alex’s current boyfriend. According to Maeve, she is a bit of a serial monogamist, always dating someone new, but Alex really seems to like this guy. And he is completely opposite her usual type, but maybe that’s for the best. From what I’ve heard, Alex tends to date athletes, but Matthew is a total nerd. Don’t get me wrong, he is equally as built as some of the student athletes on campus, but he works out for fun.

Matthew is a computer science major and an expert coder. He actually made a small fortune in high school from a Smart Home app that he created and sold to Philips. He’s a techand video game nerd through and through, but he Alex are so evenly matched with their laid-back mentalities and outgoing personalities.

“Ah, yeah, probably. I think I left around dinner time. Matt was doing a twenty-four-hour video game marathon charity stream yesterday, and it ended at seven. I went over there to cook him some food and clean his apartment because I knew he was going to crash hard.”

“Aw, look at you. You’re basically a whole wife already,” I say jokingly.

Alex shoves me gently as we head out of the apartment. “What can I say? I really like him.”

We got to the Kappa Theta Alpha house to see that the driveway was already full of cars and the yard full of women. Alex parked her car on the street outside the house before getting out. “Okay, you stay out here with the rest of the pledges, and I’ll see you in a little bit,” she says, leaving me to head into the house.

There were about ten of us hanging out in the front yard. “I think we might be their biggest pledge class in years,” says a woman to my right. She holds her hand out to me. “I don’t think we’ve met yet. I’m Penny! Well, Penelope, but no one on this planet other than my grandma calls me that.”

I grip her hand lightly, shaking it. “Naomi. Nice to meet you.”

“Oh,you’reNaomi? They’ve been talking about you all week,” she says, gesturing toward the house with her head. “You must have had some kind of an in, because rumor is, you were an automatic yes from Day One. Which says a lot. I mean, I’m a KTA legacy, and even I wasn’t an automatic.”

I tilt my head in confusion. “A KTA legacy…?”

“Oh my gosh, and you don’t even know what a legacy is, how precious.” Penny gives me a cloyingly sweet smile. “When you’re a legacy, it just means that your parent attended the school or joined the organization before you. So my mom was a KTA sister at this very chapter twenty-one years ago.”

I fight the frown forming on my face.This girl is a piece of work.“Ah, I see. I am not a legacy, but Maeve and Aleka are my roommates. They’re the ones that convinced me to rush in the first place.”

You could practically see the color drain from Penny’s face. “You’re roommates with Maeve. Like, the Vice President Maeve?”

---